Signal Peptide for Producing a Polypeptide

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method for producing a polypeptide comprising using a signal peptide, to nucleic acid constructs comprising a first nucleotide sequence encoding the signal peptide and a second nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide which is foreign to the first nucleotide sequence. Furthermore, it also relates to expression vectors and host cells comprising the nuclei acid construct.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/152,811 filed Jun. 14, 2005, which claims priority or the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119 of Danish Application no. PA 2004 00917 filed Jun. 14, 2004 and U.S. provisional application No. 60/580,151 filed Jun. 16, 2004, the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference.

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING

The present application contains information in the form of a sequence listing, which is appended to the application and also submitted on a data carrier accompanying this application. The content of the data carrier is fully incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to methods for producing a polypeptide comprising using a signal peptide foreign to the polypeptide, nucleic acid constructs comprising a first and a second nucleotide sequence encoding the signal peptide and the polypeptide and expression vectors and host cells comprising said nucleic acid construct.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The recombinant production of a heterologous protein in a fungal host cell, particularly a filamentous fungal cell such as Aspergillus or a yeast cell such Saccharomyces, may provide for a more desirable vehicle for producing the protein in commercially relevant quantities.

Recombinant production of a heterologous protein is generally accomplished by constructing an expression cassette in which the DNA coding for the protein is placed under the expression control of a promoter, excised from a regulated gene, suitable for the host cell. The expression cassette is introduced into the host cell. Production of the heterologous protein is then achieved by culturing the transformed host cell under inducing conditions necessary for the proper functioning of the promoter contained on the expression cassette.

Improvement of the recombinant production of proteins generally requires the availability of new regulatory sequences which are suitable for controlling the expression of the proteins in a host cell.

It is an object of the present invention to provide improved methods for producing a polypeptide in a fungal host cell using signal peptide sequences.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a method for producing a secreted polypeptide, comprising:

(a) cultivating an fungal host cell in a medium conducive for the production of the polypeptide, wherein the host cell comprises a nucleic acid construct comprising a first nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide operably linked to a second nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide, wherein the first nucleotide sequence is foreign to the second nucleotide sequence, the 3′ end of the first nucleotide sequence is immediately upstream of the second nucleotide sequence, and the first nucleotide sequence is selected from the group consisting of:

-   -   (i) a nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide having an         amino acid sequence which has at least 70% identity with SEQ ID         NO:1;     -   (ii) a nucleotide sequence having at least 70% homology with SEQ         ID NO: 2; and     -   (iii) a nucleotide sequence which hybridizes under stringency         conditions with the nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 2, or its         complementary strand, wherein the stringency conditions are         defined as prehybridization, hybridization, and washing         post-hybridization at 5° C. to 10° C. below the calculated Tm in         0.9 M NaCl, 0.09 M Tris-HCl pH 7.6, 6 mM EDTA, 0.5% NP-40,         1×Denhardt's solution, 1 mM sodium pyrophosphate, 1 mM sodium         monobasic phosphate, 0.1 mM ATP, and 0.2 mg of yeast RNA per ml,         and washing once in 6×SCC plus 0.1% SDS for 15 minutes and twice         each for 15 minutes using 6×SSC at 5° C. to 10° C. below the         calculated Tm; and

(b) isolating the secreted polypeptide from the cultivation medium.

Furthermore, the present invention provides for A nucleic acid construct comprising a first nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide operably linked to a second nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide, wherein the first nucleotide sequence is foreign to the second nucleotide sequence, and the 3′ end of the first nucleotide sequence is immediately upstream of the second nucleotide sequence, and the first nucleotide sequence is selected from the group consisting of:

(a) a nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide having an amino acid sequence which has at least 70% identity with SEQ ID NO:1;

(b) a nucleotide sequence having at least 70% homology with SEQ ID NO: 2; and

(c) a nucleotide sequence which hybridizes under stringency conditions with the nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 2, or its complementary strand, wherein the stringency conditions are defined as prehybridization, hybridization, and washing post-hybridization at 5° C. to 10° C. below the calculated Tm in 0.9 M NaCl, 0.09 M Tris-HCl pH 7.6, 6 mM EDTA, 0.5% NP-40, 1×Denhardt's solution, 1 mM sodium pyrophosphate, 1 mM sodium monobasic phosphate, 0.1 mM ATP, and 0.2 mg of yeast RNA per ml, and washing once in 6×SCC plus 0.1% SDS for 15 minutes and twice each for 15 minutes using 6×SSC at 5° C. to 10° C. below the calculated Tm.

The present invention also provides expression vectors and host cells comprising said nucleic acid construct.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Definitions

The term “variant” when used in reference to another polypeptide or nucleotide sequence is in the context of the present invention to be understood as a polypeptide or nucleotide sequence which comprises a substitution, deletion, and/or insertion of one or more amino acids or nucleotides as compared to another polypeptide (i.e. it is a variant of polypeptide/nucleotide sequence it is compared with). In particular the changes may be of minor nature, such as conservative amino acid substitutions or for nucleotide sequence resulting in conservative amino acid substitutions, that do not significantly affect the activity of the polypeptide; or small deletions, typically of one to about 20 amino acids depending on the size of the polypeptide in which the changes are made.

Examples of conservative substitutions are within the group of basic amino acids (arginine, lysine and histidine), acidic amino acids (glutamic acid and aspartic acid), polar amino acids (glutamine and asparagine), hydrophobic amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine), aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tryptophan and tyrosine), and small amino acids (glycine, alanine, serine, threonine and methionine). Amino acid substitutions that do not generally alter the specific activity are known in the art and are described, for example, by H. Neurath and R. L. Hill, 1979, In, The Proteins, Academic Press, New York. The most commonly occurring exchanges are Ala/Ser, Val/Ile, Asp/Glu, Thr/Ser, Ala/Gly, Ala/Thr, Ser/Asn, Ala/Val, Ser/Gly, Tyr/Phe, Ala/Pro, Lys/Arg, Asp/Asn, Leu/Ile, Leu/Val, Ala/Glu, and Asp/Gly as well as these in reverse.

Method of the Present Invention

The present invention relates to methods for producing a secreted polypeptide, comprising: (a) cultivating a fungal host cell in a medium conducive for the production of the polypeptide, wherein the host cell comprises a nucleic acid construct comprising a first nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide operably linked to a second nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide, wherein the first nucleotide sequence is foreign to the second nucleotide sequence, the 3′ end of the first nucleotide sequence is immediately upstream of the second nucleotide sequence, and the first nucleotide sequence is selected from the group consisting of: (i) a nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide having an amino acid sequence which has at least 70% identity with SEQ ID NO:1; (ii) a nucleotide sequence having at least 70% homology with SEQ ID NO: 2; and (iii) a nucleotide sequence which hybridizes under stringency conditions with the nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 2, or its complementary strand, wherein the stringency conditions are defined as prehybridization, hybridization, and washing post-hybridization at 5° C. to 10° C. below the calculated Tm in 0.9 M NaCl, 0.09 M Tris-HCl pH 7.6, 6 mM EDTA, 0.5% NP-40, 1×Denhardt's solution, 1 mM sodium pyrophosphate, 1 mM sodium monobasic phosphate, 0.1 mM ATP, and 0.2 mg of yeast RNA per ml, and washing once in 6×SCC plus 0.1% SDS for 15 minutes and twice each for 15 minutes using 6×SSC at 5° C. to 10° C. below the calculated Tm; and (b) isolating the secreted polypeptide from the cultivation medium.

In the methods of the present invention, the fungal host cells are cultivated in a medium conducive for the production of the polypeptide, i.e. in a nutrient medium suitable for production of the polypeptide using methods known in the art. For example, the cell may be cultivated by shake flask cultivation, or small-scale or large-scale fermentation (including continuous, batch, fed-batch, or solid state fermentations) in laboratory or industrial fermentors performed in a suitable medium and under conditions allowing the polypeptide to be expressed and/or isolated. The cultivation may take place in a suitable nutrient medium comprising carbon and nitrogen sources and inorganic salts, using procedures known in the art. Suitable media are available from commercial suppliers or may be prepared according to published compositions (e.g., in catalogues of the American Type Culture Collection).

The polypeptide may be detected using methods known in the art that are specific for the polypeptide. Such detection methods may include use of specific antibodies, formation of an enzyme product, or disappearance of an enzyme substrate.

In the methods of the present invention, the fungal host cell may in particular produce at least about 25% more, more particularly at least about 50% more, more particularly at least about 75% more, more particularly at least about 100% more, even more particularly at least about 200% more, most particularly at least about 300% more, and even most particularly at least about 400% more polypeptide relative to a fungal cell containing a native signal peptide sequence operably linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide when cultured under identical production conditions.

The resulting secreted polypeptide can be recovered directly from the medium by methods known in the art. For example, the polypeptide may be recovered from the nutrient medium by conventional procedures including, but not limited to, centrifugation, filtration, extraction, spray-drying, evaporation, or precipitation.

The polypeptide may be purified by a variety of procedures known in the art including, but not limited to, chromatography (e.g., ion exchange, affinity, hydrophobic, chromatofocusing, and size exclusion), electrophoretic procedures (e.g., preparative isoelectric focusing), differential solubility (e.g., ammonium sulfate precipitation), SDS-PAGE, or extraction (see, e.g., Protein Purification, J.-C. Janson and Lars Ryden, editors, VCH Publishers, New York, 1989).

Signal Peptide

The first nucleotide sequence of the present encodes a signal peptide of the present invention. The term “signal peptide” or “signal peptide sequence” is defined herein as a peptide sequence usually present at the N-terminal end of newly synthesized secretory or membrane polypeptides which directs the polypeptide across or into a cell membrane of the cell (the plasma membrane in prokaryotes and the endoplasmic reticulum membrane in eukaryotes). It is usually subsequently removed. In particular said signal peptide may be capable of directing the polypeptide into a cell's secretory pathway.

The term “operably linked” is defined herein as a configuration in which a control sequence, e.g., a signal peptide sequence, is appropriately placed at a position relative to a coding sequence such that the control sequence directs the production of a polypeptide encoded by the coding sequence.

The term “coding sequence” is defined herein as a nucleotide sequence which is translated into a polypeptide when placed under the control of the appropriate control sequences. The boundaries of the coding sequence are generally determined by the start codon located at the beginning (5′ end) of the open reading frame and a stop codon located at the 3′ end of the open reading frame. A coding sequence can include, but is not limited to, genomic DNA, cDNA, RNA, semisynthetic, synthetic, and recombinant nucleotide sequences.

The 5′ end of the coding sequence of the polypeptide of the present invention may contain a native nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide which is naturally linked with nucleotide sequence segment which encodes the mature (or pro-form) of the polypeptide. In this case the signal peptide of the present invention may replace the native signal peptide. Alternatively, the polypeptide of the present invention may lack a native signal peptide. In this context the term “native” is intended to be understood as being present naturally.

In the methods of the present invention, the signal peptide sequence is foreign to the nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of interest, but the signal peptide sequence or nucleotide sequence may be native to the fungal host cell. In this context the term “foreign” is intended to be understood as the signal peptide is not native to the polypeptide, i.e. it originates from another gene than the polypeptide.

In one embodiment the first nucleotide sequence may encode a signal peptide having an amino acid sequence which has at least 70%, particularly at least about 75%, more particularly at least about 80%, more particularly at least about 85%, even more particularly at least about 90%, most particularly at least about 95%, and even most particularly at least about 97% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1, which have the ability to direct a polypeptide into or across a cell membrane (hereinafter “homologous signal peptide”), e.g. into a cell's secretory pathway. In a particular aspect, the homologous signal peptide may have an amino acid sequence which differs by five amino acids, particularly by four amino acids, more particularly by three amino acids, even more particularly by two amino acids, and most particularly by one amino acid from SEQ ID NO: 1. For purposes of the present invention, the identity or degree of identity between two amino acid sequences is determined by the Clustal method (Higgins, 1989, CABIOS 5: 151-153) using the LASERGENE™ MEGALIGN™ software (DNASTAR, Inc., Madison, Wis.) with an identity table and the following multiple alignment parameters: Gap penalty of 10 and gap length penalty of 10. Pair wise alignment parameters are Ktuple=1, gap penalty=3, windows=5, and diagonals=5.

In particular, the first nucleotide sequence may encode a signal peptide which comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or an allelic variant thereof; or a fragment thereof that has the ability to direct the polypeptide into or across a cell membrane, e.g. into a cell's secretory pathway. In a more particular aspect, the first nucleotide sequence of the present invention encodes a signal peptide that comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. In another particular aspect, the first nucleotide sequence encodes a signal peptide that consists of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or a fragment thereof, wherein the signal peptide fragment has the ability to direct a polypeptide into or across a cell membrane, e.g. into a cell's secretory pathway. In another more particular aspect, the nucleotide sequence of the present invention encodes a signal peptide that consists of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1.

The present invention also encompasses first nucleotide sequences which encode a signal peptide having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, which differs from SEQ ID NO: 2 by virtue of the degeneracy of the genetic code. The present invention also relates to subsequences or fragments of SEQ ID NO: 2 which encode fragments of SEQ ID NO: 1 which has the ability to direct a polypeptide into or across a cell membrane, e.g. into a cell's secretory pathway.

A subsequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 is a nucleic acid sequence encompassed by SEQ ID NO: 2 except that one or more nucleotides from the 5′ and/or 3′ end have been deleted. Particularly, a subsequence contains at least 30 nucleotides, such as at least 35 nucleotides or at least 40 nucleotides or at least 45 nucleotides or at least 50 nucleotides or at least 52 nucleotides or at least 53 nucleotides. A fragment of SEQ ID NO: 1 is a polypeptide having one or more amino acids deleted from the amino and/or carboxy terminus of this amino acid sequence. In particular a fragment contains at least 10 amino acid residues such as at least 12 amino acid residues or at least 13 amino acid residues or at least 14 amino acid residues or at least 15 amino acid residues or at least 16 amino residues or at least 17 amino acid residues. In particular if the first and second nucleotide sequences are expressed in a yeast host cell the signal peptide may comprise amino acid residues 1-16 of SEQ ID NO: 1, as the inventors of the present invention have observed that in yeast the signal peptide is cleaved between amino acid residues 16 and 17 (at the

P), while if the host cell is a filamentous fungus the signal peptide may in particular comprise the 18 amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO: 1, as the inventors of the present invention have seen that in Aspergillus oryzae the cleavage of the signal peptide occurs after amino acid residue 18 of SEQ ID NO:1. This indicates that there may be a difference between yeast and filamentous fungi in the sequence recognized as a cleavage site for cleavage of the signal sequence.

An allelic variant denotes any of two or more alternative forms of a gene occupying the same chromosomal locus. Allelic variation arises naturally through mutation, and may result in polymorphism within populations. Gene mutations may be silent (no change in the encoded signal peptide) or may encode signal peptides having altered amino acid sequences. The allelic variant of a signal peptide is a peptide encoded by an allelic variant of a gene.

In a particular aspect, the first nucleotide sequence is the signal peptide coding sequence of the cutinase gene contained in Humicola insolens DSM 1800 (SEQ ID NO: 1).

In a second aspect, the first nucleotide sequence of the present invention which encodes a signal peptide may have a degree of homology to SEQ ID NO: 2 of at least about 70%, particularly at least about 75%, more particularly at least about 80%, more particularly at least about 85%, even more particularly at least about 90% homology, most particularly at least about 95% homology, and even most particularly at least about 97% homology, which encode a signal peptide; or allelic variants and subsequences of SEQ ID NO: 2 which encode signal peptide fragments which have the ability to direct a polypeptide into or across a cell membrane, e.g. into a cell's secretory pathway. For purposes of the present invention, the degree of homology between two nucleic acid sequences is determined by the Wilbur-Lipman method (Wilbur and Lipman, 1983, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 80: 726-730) using the LASERGENE™ MEGALIGN™ software (DNASTAR, Inc., Madison, Wis.) with an identity table and the following multiple alignment parameters: Gap penalty of 10 and gap length penalty of 10. Pairwise alignment parameters are Ktuple=3, gap penalty=3, and windows=20.

In a third aspect, the first nucleotide sequence of the present invention encodes a signal peptide, wherein said first nucleotide sequence hybridize under stringency conditions with the nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 2, or its complementary strand (J. Sambrook, E. F. Fritsch, and T. Maniatus, 1989, Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, 2d edition, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.).

The nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or a subsequence thereof, as well as the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or a fragment thereof may be used to design a nucleic acid probe to identify and clone DNA encoding signal peptides from strains of different genera or species according to methods well known in the art. In particular, such probes can be used for hybridization with the genomic or cDNA of the genus or species of interest, following standard Southern blotting procedures, in order to identify and isolate the corresponding gene therein. Such probes can be considerably shorter than the entire sequence, but may in particular be at least 15, such as at least 25, or more particularly at least 35 nucleotides in length. Both DNA and RNA probes can be used. The probes may typically be labelled for detecting the corresponding gene (for example, with 32P, 3H, 35S, biotin, or avidin). Such probes are encompassed by the present invention.

Thus, a genomic DNA or cDNA library prepared from such other organisms may be screened for DNA which hybridizes with the probes described above and which encodes a signal peptide. Genomic or other DNA from such other organisms may be separated by agarose or polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, or other separation techniques. DNA from the libraries or the separated DNA may be transferred to and immobilized on nitrocellulose or other suitable carrier material. In order to identify a clone or DNA which is homologous with SEQ ID NO: 2 or a subsequence thereof, the carrier material is used in a Southern blot. For purposes of the present invention, hybridization indicates that the nucleic acid sequence hybridizes to a labelled nucleic acid probe corresponding to the nucleic acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 2, its complementary strand, or a subsequence thereof, under stringency conditions defined herein. Molecules to which the nucleic acid probe hybridizes under these conditions can be detected using X-ray film.

In a particular aspect, the nucleic acid probe is a nucleotide sequence which encodes the signal peptide of SEQ ID NO: 1, or a subsequence thereof. In another particular aspect, the nucleic acid probe is SEQ ID NO: 2. In another particular aspect, the nucleic acid probe is the signal peptide sequence of the cutinase gene contained in Humicola insolens DSM 1800 (SEQ ID NO: 2 of WO 96/13580).

For short probes which are about 15 nucleotides to about 60 nucleotides in length, stringency conditions are defined as prehybridization, hybridization, and washing post-hybridization at 5° C. to 10° C. below the calculated Tm using the calculation according to Bolton and McCarthy (1962, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 48: 1390) in 0.9 M NaCl, 0.09 M Tris-HCl pH 7.6, 6 mM EDTA, 0.5% NP-40, 1×Denhardt's solution, 1 mM sodium pyrophosphate, 1 mM sodium monobasic phosphate, 0.1 mM ATP, and 0.2 mg of yeast RNA per ml following standard Southern blotting procedures.

For short probes which are about 15 nucleotides to about 60 nucleotides in length, the carrier material is washed once in 6×SCC plus 0.1% SDS for 15 minutes and twice each for 15 minutes using 6×SSC at 5° C. to 10° C. below the calculated Tm.

In a fourth aspect, the first nucleotide sequence may encode variants of the signal peptide having an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 comprising a substitution, deletion, and/or insertion of one or more amino acids.

The amino acid sequences of the variant signal peptides may differ from the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 by an insertion or deletion of one or more amino acid residues and/or the substitution of one or more amino acid residues by different amino acid residues. Particularly, amino acid changes may be of a minor nature, such as conservative amino acid substitutions that do not significantly affect the activity of the signal peptide; or small deletions, typically of one to about 5 amino acids.

Examples of conservative substitutions are within the group of basic amino acids (arginine, lysine and histidine), acidic amino acids (glutamic acid and aspartic acid), polar amino acids (glutamine and asparagine), hydrophobic amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine), aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tryptophan and tyrosine), and small amino acids (glycine, alanine, serine, threonine and methionine). Amino acid substitutions that do not generally alter the specific activity are known in the art and are described, for example, by H. Neurath and R. L. Hill, 1979, In, The Proteins, Academic Press, New York. The most commonly occurring exchanges are Ala/Ser, Val/Ile, Asp/Glu, Thr/Ser, Ala/Gly, Ala/Thr, Ser/Asn, Ala/Val, Ser/Gly, Tyr/Phe, Ala/Pro, Lys/Arg, Asp/Asn, Leu/Ile, Leu/Val, Ala/Glu, and Asp/Gly as well as these in reverse.

Polypeptide

The second nucleotide sequence of the preset invention encodes a polypeptide encoded of the present invention. Said polypeptide may be native or heterologous to the fungal host cell in which it is produced.

The term “polypeptide” is not meant herein to refer to a specific length of the encoded product and, therefore, encompasses peptides, oligopeptides, and proteins. The term “heterologous polypeptide” is defined herein as a polypeptide which is not native to the fungal cell, a native polypeptide in which modifications have been made to alter the native sequence, or a native polypeptide whose expression is quantitatively altered as a result of a manipulation of the gene encoding the polypeptide by recombinant DNA techniques. The fungal cell may contain one or more copies of the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide.

In particular, the polypeptide may be a hormone or hormone variant, an enzyme, a receptor or portion thereof, an antibody or portion thereof, an allergen or a reporter. In a particular aspect, the polypeptide may be an allergen originating from Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Dermatophagoides farinae, Dermatophagoides siboney, Dermatophagoides microceaus, Blomia tropicalis and Euroglyphus maynei, or an allergen from one of said organisms which subsequently have been modified. More particularly, said allergen may be Der p 1, e.g. Der p 1 from Dermantophagoides pteronyssinus (SEQ ID NO: 3). In particular the polypeptide may be the sequence of amino acids 19-320 of SEQ ID NO: 3. In a more particular embodiment the polypeptide may be a variant of the polypeptide sequence of amino acids 19-320 of SEQ ID NO: 3. More particularly said variant may be a S54X or N52X, wherein “X” denotes any amino acid, as said disrupt the N-glycosylation site of Der p 1, in particular said variants may be S54N or N52Q. However, other variants of Der p 1 are envisioned.

In another particular embodiment the polypeptide may be an enzyme, such as an oxidoreductase, transferase, hydrolase, lyase, isomerase, or ligase. In a more particular aspect, the polypeptide may be an aminopeptidase, amylase, carbohydrase, carboxypeptidase, catalase, cellulase, cellobiohydrolase, chitinase, cutinase, cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase, deoxyribonuclease, endoglucanase, esterase, alpha-galactosidase, beta-galactosidase, glucoamylase, alpha-glucosidase, beta-glucosidase, invertase, laccase, lipase, mannosidase, mutanase, oxidase, pectinolytic enzyme, peroxidase, phospholipase, phytase, polyphenoloxidase, proteolytic enzyme, ribonuclease, transglutaminase, xylanase, or beta-xylosidase. An example of a relevant cellulase includes but is not limited to a cellulase from Mucor cicinellides, e.g. M. cicinellides IFO4554 (SEQ ID NO: 4). Examples of relevant proteolytic enzymes include but are not limited to cystein proteases, e.g. cystein protease 5 from Trifolium repens L (SEQ ID NO: 5), especially amino acids 109-327 of SEQ ID NO: 5 which encode the mature peptide, or trypsin, e.g. trypsin from Fusarium oxysporium (SEQ ID NO: 7). An example of a relevant phytase includes but is not limited to a phytase from Peniophora lycii, e.g. P. lycii CBS 686.96 (SEQ ID NO: 9).

The second nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of the present invention may be obtained from any prokaryotic, eukaryotic, or other source. For purposes of the present invention, the term “obtained from” as used herein in connection with a given source shall mean that the polypeptide is produced by the source or by a cell in which a gene from the source has been inserted.

The techniques used to isolate or clone a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of interest are known in the art and include isolation from genomic DNA, preparation from cDNA, or a combination thereof. The cloning of the second nucleotide sequence from such genomic DNA can be effected, e.g., by using the well known polymerase chain reaction (PCR). See, for example, Innis et al., 1990, PCR Protocols: A Guide to Methods and Application, Academic Press, New York. The cloning procedures may involve excision and isolation of a desired nucleotide fragment comprising the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide, insertion of the fragment into a vector molecule, and incorporation of the recombinant vector into the mutant fungal cell where multiple copies or clones of the nucleotide sequence will be replicated. The second nucleotide sequence may be of genomic, cDNA, RNA, semisynthetic, synthetic origin, or any combinations thereof.

In the methods of the present invention, the polypeptide may also be a fused or hybrid polypeptide in which another polypeptide is fused at the N-terminus or the C-terminus of the polypeptide or fragment thereof. A fused polypeptide is produced by fusing a nucleotide sequence (or a portion thereof) encoding one polypeptide to the second nucleotide sequence (or a portion thereof) encoding the polypeptide of the present invention. Techniques for producing fusion polypeptides are known in the art, and include, ligating the coding sequences encoding the polypeptides so that they are in frame and expression of the fused polypeptide is under control of the same promoter(s) and terminator. The hybrid polypeptide may comprise a combination of partial or complete polypeptide sequences obtained from at least two different polypeptides wherein one or more may be heterologous to the mutant fungal cell.

Nucleic Acid Construct

The present invention also relates to a nucleic acid construct comprising a first nucleotide sequence signal peptide of the present invention operably linked to a second nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of the present invention.

“Nucleic acid construct” is defined herein as a nucleotide molecule, either single- or double-stranded, which is isolated from a naturally occurring gene or which has been modified to contain segments of nucleic acids combined and juxtaposed in a manner that would not otherwise exist in nature. The term nucleic acid construct is synonymous with the term expression cassette when the nucleic acid construct contains a coding sequence and all the control sequences required for expression of the coding sequence.

A second nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide may be further manipulated in a variety of ways to provide for expression of the polypeptide. Manipulation of the nucleotide sequence prior to its insertion into a vector may be desirable or necessary depending on the expression vector. The techniques for modifying nucleotide sequences utilizing recombinant DNA methods are well known in the art.

In the methods of the present invention, the nucleic acid construct may comprise one or more native control sequences or one or more of the native control sequences may be replaced with one or more control sequences foreign to the first and/or second nucleotide sequence of the nucleic acid construct for improving expression of the second nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide in a host cell.

The term “control sequences” is defined herein to include all components which are necessary or advantageous for the expression of the polypeptide encoded by the second nucleotide sequence. Each control sequence may be native or foreign to the second nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide. Such control sequences include, but are not limited to, a leader, polyadenylation sequence, propeptide sequence, signal peptide sequence of the present invention, and transcription terminator. At a minimum, the control sequences include a signal peptide sequence of the present invention, and transcriptional and translational stop signals. The control sequences may be provided with linkers for the purpose of introducing specific restriction sites facilitating ligation of the control sequences with the second nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide.

The control sequence may be an appropriate promoter sequence, which is recognized by a host cell for expression of the nucleotide sequence. The promoter sequence contains transcriptional control sequences which mediate the expression of the polypeptide. The promoter may be any sequence which shows transcriptional activity in the host cell of choice including mutant, truncated, and hybrid promoters, and may be obtained from genes encoding extracellular or intracellular polypeptides either homologous or heterologous to the host cell.

Examples of suitable promoters for directing the transcription of the nucleic acid constructs of the present invention in a filamentous fungal host cell are promoters obtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Rhizomucor miehei aspartic proteinase, Aspergillus niger neutral alpha-amylase, Aspergillus niger acid stable alpha-amylase, Aspergillus niger or Aspergillus awamori glucoamylase (glaA), Rhizomucor miehei lipase, Aspergillus oryzae alkaline protease, Aspergillus oryzae triose phosphate isomerase, Aspergillus nidulans acetamidase, Fusarium venenatum amyloglucosidase, Fusarium oxysporum trypsin-like protease (WO 96/00787), Trichoderma reesei cellobiohydrolase I, Trichoderma reesei cellobiohydrolase II, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase I, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase II, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase III, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase IV, Trichoderma reesei endoglucanase V, Trichoderma reesei xylanase I, Trichoderma reesei xylanase II, Trichoderma reesei beta-xylosidase, as well as the NA2-tpi promoter (a hybrid of the promoters from the genes for Aspergillus niger neutral alpha-amylase and Aspergillus oryzae triose phosphate isomerase); and mutant, truncated, and hybrid promoters thereof.

In a yeast host, useful promoters include but are not limited to those obtained from the genes for Saccharomyces cerevisiae enolase (ENO-1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae galactokinase (GAL1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae alcohol dehydrogenase/glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (ADH1, ADH2/GAP), Saccharomyces cerevisiae triose phosphate isomerase (TPI), Saccharomyces cerevisiae metallothionine (CUP1), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae 3-phosphoglycerate kinase. Other useful promoters for yeast host cells are described by Romanos et al., 1992, Yeast 8: 423-488.

The control sequence may be a suitable transcription terminator sequence, which is recognized by a host cell to terminate transcription. The terminator sequence is operably linked to the 3′ terminus of the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide. Any terminator which is functional in the host cell of choice may be used in the present invention.

Examples of suitable terminators for filamentous fungal host cells include but are not limited to those obtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase, Aspergillus nidulans anthranilate synthase, Aspergillus niger alpha-glucosidase, and Fusarium oxysporum trypsin-like protease.

Examples of suitable terminators for yeast host cells include but are not limited to those obtained from the genes for Saccharomyces cerevisiae enolase, Saccharomyces cerevisiae cytochrome C (CYC1), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Other useful terminators for yeast host cells are described by Romanos et al., 1992, supra.

The control sequence may also be a suitable leader sequence, a nontranslated region of an mRNA which is important for translation by the host cell. The leader sequence may generally be operably linked to the 5′ end of the nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide. Any leader sequence that is functional in the host cell of choice may be used in the present invention.

Examples of suitable leaders for filamentous fungal host cells include but are not limited to those obtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase and Aspergillus nidulans triose phosphate isomerase.

Suitable leaders for yeast host cells include but are not limited to those obtained from the genes for Saccharomyces cerevisiae enolase (ENO-1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae 3-phosphoglycerate kinase, Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae alcohol dehydrogenase/glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (ADH2/GAP).

The control sequence may also be a polyadenylation sequence, which is operably linked to the 3′ end of the nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide and which, when transcribed, is recognized by the host cell as a signal to add polyadenosine residues to transcribed mRNA. Any polyadenylation sequence which is functional in the host cell of choice may be used in the present invention.

Examples of suitable polyadenylation sequences for filamentous fungal host cells include but are not limited to those obtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase, Aspergillus nidulans anthranilate synthase, Fusarium oxysporum trypsin-like protease, and Aspergillus niger alpha-glucosidase.

Useful polyadenylation sequences for yeast host cells include but are not limited to those described by Guo and Sherman, 1995, Molecular Cellular Biology 15: 5983-5990.

The control sequence may also be a propeptide coding region that codes for an amino acid sequence positioned at the amino terminus of a polypeptide. The resultant polypeptide is known as a proenzyme or propolypeptide (or a zymogen in some cases). A propolypeptide is generally inactive and can be converted to a mature active polypeptide by catalytic or autocatalytic cleavage of the propeptide from the propolypeptide. Examples of propeptide coding region include but are not limited to those obtained from the genes for Dermantophagoides pteronyssinus Der p 1, or other genes obtained from Dermantophagoides, Fusarium oxysporum trypsin, Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor, Rhizomucor miehei aspartic proteinase, and Myceliophthora thermophila laccase (WO 95/33836).

Where both signal peptide and propeptide regions are present at the amino terminus of a polypeptide, the propeptide region is positioned next to the amino terminus of a polypeptide and the signal peptide region is positioned next to the amino terminus of the propeptide region. If a propeptide is present a cleavable site may in one embodiment be present between the propeptide and the mature polypeptide. The term “cleavable site” is to be understood as an amino acid sequence which is recognized by a proteolytic enzyme capable of cleaving the polypeptide at this site. Examples of such site include a kex-site, in particular a kex-II site.

It may also be desirable to add regulatory sequences which allow the regulation of the expression of the polypeptide relative to the growth of the host cell. Examples of regulatory systems are those which cause the expression of the gene to be turned on or off in response to a chemical or physical stimulus, including the presence of a regulatory compound. In yeast, the ADH2 system or GALL system may be used. In filamentous fungi, the TAKA alpha-amylase promoter, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase promoter, and Aspergillus oryzae glucoamylase promoter may be used as regulatory sequences. Other examples of regulatory sequences are those which allow for gene amplification. In eukaryotic systems, these include the dihydrofolate reductase gene which is amplified in the presence of methotrexate, and the metallothionein genes which are amplified with heavy metals. In these cases, the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide would be operably linked with the regulatory sequence.

Expression Vector

The present invention also relates to a recombinant expression vector comprising a nucleic acid construct of the present invention. Besides comprising a first and a second nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide and a polypeptide, respectively of the present invention said expression vector may in particular comprise a transcriptional and translational stop signal. The various nucleotide and control sequences described above may be joined together to produce a recombinant expression vector which may include one or more convenient restriction sites to allow for insertion or substitution of the promoter and/or nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide at such sites. Alternatively, the nucleic acid construct may be inserted into an appropriate vector for expression for expression of the polypeptide encoded by the second nucleotide sequence. In creating the expression vector, the second nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide of the present invention is located in the vector so that said sequence is operably linked with a signal peptide sequence of the present invention and one or more appropriate control sequences for expression.

The recombinant expression vector may be any vector (e.g., a plasmid or virus) which can be conveniently subjected to recombinant DNA procedures and can bring about the expression of the nucleotide sequence. The choice of the vector will typically depend on the compatibility of the vector with the host cell into which the vector is to be introduced. The vectors may be linear or closed circular plasmids.

The vectors of the present invention may in particular contain one or more selectable markers which permit easy selection of transformed cells. A selectable marker is a gene the product of which provides for biocide or viral resistance, resistance to heavy metals, prototrophy to auxotrophs, and the like. Suitable markers for yeast host cells include, but are not limited to, ADE2, HIS3, LEU2, LYS2, MET3, TRP1, and URA3. Selectable markers for use in a filamentous fungal host cell include, but are not limited to, amdS (acetamidase), argB (ornithine carbamoyltransferase), bar (phosphinothricin acetyltransferase), hygB (hygromycin phosphotransferase), niaD (nitrate reductase), pyrG (orotidine-5′-phosphate decarboxylase), sC (sulfate adenyltransferase), trpC (anthranilate synthase), as well as equivalents thereof. In particular for use in an Aspergillus cell are the amdS and pyrG genes of Aspergillus nidulans or Aspergillus oryzae and the bar gene of Streptomyces hygroscopicus.

The vector may be an autonomously replicating vector, i.e., a vector which exists as an extrachromosomal entity, the replication of which is independent of chromosomal replication, e.g., a plasmid, an extrachromosomal element, a minichromosome, or an artificial chromosome. The vector may contain any means for assuring self-replication. Alternatively, the vector may be one which, when introduced into the host cell, is integrated into the genome and replicated together with the chromosome(s) into which it has been integrated. Furthermore, a single vector or plasmid or two or more vectors or plasmids which together contain the total DNA to be introduced into the genome of the host cell, or a transposon may be used.

The vectors of the present invention may in particular contain an element(s) that permits stable integration of the vector into the host cell's genome or autonomous replication of the vector in the cell independent of the genome.

For integration into the host cell genome, the vector may rely on the second nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide or any other element of the vector for stable integration of the vector into the genome by homologous or nonhomologous recombination. Alternatively, the vector may contain additional nucleotide sequences for directing integration by homologous recombination into the genome of the host cell. The additional nucleotide sequences may enable the vector to be integrated into the host cell genome at a precise location(s) in the chromosome(s). To increase the likelihood of integration at a precise location, the integrational elements should in particular contain a sufficient number of nucleotides, such as 100 to 1,500 base pairs, preferably 400 to 1,500 base pairs, and most preferably 800 to 1,500 base pairs, which are highly homologous with the corresponding target sequence to enhance the probability of homologous recombination. The integrational elements may be any sequence that is homologous with the target sequence in the genome of the host cell. Furthermore, the integrational elements may be non-encoding or encoding nucleotide sequences. On the other hand, the vector may be integrated into the genome of the host cell by non-homologous recombination.

For autonomous replication, the vector may further comprise an origin of replication enabling the vector to replicate autonomously in the host cell in question. The origin of replication may be any plasmid replicator mediating autonomous replication which functions in a cell. The term “origin of replication” or “plasmid replicator” is defined herein as a nucleotide sequence that enables a plasmid or vector to replicate in vivo.

Examples of origins of replication for use in a yeast host cell are the 2 micron origin of replication, ARS1, ARS4, the combination of ARS1 and CEN3, and the combination of ARS4 and CEN6. The origin of replication may be one having a mutation which makes its ability to function temperature-sensitive in the host cell (see, e.g., Ehrlich, 1978, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 75: 1433).

Examples of origins of replication useful in a filamentous fungal host cell are AMA1 and ANS1 (Gems et al., 1991, Gene 98:61-67; Cullen et al., 1987, Nucleic Acids Research 15: 9163-9175; WO 00/24883). Isolation of the AMA1 gene and construction of plasmids or vectors comprising the gene can be accomplished according to the methods disclosed in WO 00/24883.

More than one copy of a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide may be inserted into the host cell to increase production of the gene product. An increase in the copy number of the nucleotide sequence can be obtained by integrating at least one additional copy of the sequence into the host cell genome or by including an amplifiable selectable marker gene with the nucleotide sequence where cells containing amplified copies of the selectable marker gene, and thereby additional copies of the nucleotide sequence, can be selected for by cultivating the cells in the presence of the appropriate selectable agent.

The procedures used to ligate the elements described above to construct the recombinant expression vectors of the present invention are well known to one skilled in the art (see, e.g., Sambrook et al., 1989, supra).

Host cells

The present invention relates to methods in which polypeptides are produced in a fungal host cell and to a recombinant host cells comprising a nucleic acid construct of the present invention.

A vector comprising a first nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide of the present invention operably linked to a second nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide is introduced into a fungal host cell so that the vector is maintained as a chromosomal integrant or as a self-replicating extra-chromosomal vector as described earlier. The term “host cell” encompasses any progeny of a parent cell that is not identical to the parent cell due to mutations that occur during replication. The choice of a host cell will to a large extent depend upon the gene encoding the polypeptide and its source.

The host cell may be any fungal cell useful in the methods of the present invention. “Fungi” as used herein includes the phyla Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Chytridiomycota, and Zygomycota (as defined by Hawksworth et al., In, Ainsworth and Bisby's Dictionary of The Fungi, 8th edition, 1995, CAB International, University Press, Cambridge, UK) as well as the Oomycota (as cited in Hawksworth et al., 1995, supra, page 171) and all mitosporic fungi (Hawksworth et al., 1995, supra).

In a particular aspect, the fungal host cell is a yeast cell. “Yeast” as used herein includes ascosporogenous yeast (Endomycetales), basidiosporogenous yeast, and yeast belonging to the Fungi Imperfecti (Blastomycetes). Since the classification of yeast may change in the future, for the purposes of this invention, yeast shall be defined as described in Biology and Activities of Yeast (Skinner, F. A., Passmore, S. M., and Davenport, R. R., eds, Soc. App. Bacteriol. Symposium Series No. 9, 1980).

In a more particular aspect, the yeast host cell is a Candida, Hansenula, Kluyveromyces, Pichia, Saccharomyces, Schizosaccharomyces, or Yarrowia cell.

In a most particular aspect, the yeast host cell is a Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, e.g., S. cerevisiae YNG318, Saccharomyces diastaticus, Saccharomyces douglasii, Saccharomyces kluyveri, Saccharomyces norbensis, Saccharomyces oviformis, Kluyveromyces lactis or Yarrowia lipolytica cell.

In another particular aspect, the fungal host cell is a filamentous fungal cell. “Filamentous fungi” include all filamentous forms of the subdivision Eumycota and Oomycota (as defined by Hawksworth et al., 1995, supra). The filamentous fungi are characterized by a mycelial wall composed of chitin, cellulose, glucan, chitosan, mannan, and other complex polysaccharides. Vegetative growth is by hyphal elongation and carbon catabolism is obligately aerobic. In contrast, vegetative growth by yeasts such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae is by budding of a unicellular thallus and carbon catabolism may be fermentative.

In a more particular aspect, the filamentous fungal host cell is a cell of a species of, but not limited to, Acremonium, Aspergillus, Fusarium, Humicola, Mucor, Myceliophthora, Neurospora, Penicillium, Thielavia, Tolypocladium, or Trichoderma.

In an even more particular aspect, the filamentous fungal host cell is an Aspergillus awamori, Aspergillus foetidus, Aspergillus japonicus, Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus niger or Aspergillus oryzae cell. In another even more particular aspect, the filamentous fungal host cell is a Fusarium bactridioides, Fusarium cerealis, Fusarium crookwellense, Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium graminum, Fusarium heterosporum, Fusarium negundi, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium reticulatum, Fusarium roseum, Fusarium sambucinum, Fusarium sarcochroum, Fusarium sporotrichioides, Fusarium sulphureum, Fusarium torulosum, Fusarium trichothecioides, or Fusarium venenatum cell. In another even more particular aspect, the filamentous fungal host cell is a Humicola insolens, Humicola lanuginosa, Mucor miehei, Myceliophthora thermophila, Neurospora crassa, Penicillium purpurogenum, Thielavia terrestris, Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma koningii, Trichoderma longibrachiatum, Trichoderma reesei, or Trichoderma viride cell.

In a most particular aspect, the Fusarium venenatum cell is Fusarium venenatum A3/5, which was originally deposited as Fusarium graminearum ATCC 20334 and recently reclassified as Fusarium venenatum by Yoder and Christianson, 1998, Fungal Genetics and Biology 23: 62-80 and O'Donnell et al., 1998, Fungal Genetics and Biology 23: 57-67; as well as taxonomic equivalents of Fusarium venenatum regardless of the species name by which they are currently known. In another particular aspect, the Fusarium venenatum cell is a morphological mutant of Fusarium venenatum A3/5 or Fusarium venenatum ATCC 20334, as disclosed in WO 97/26330.

In another most particular aspect, the Trichoderma cell is Trichoderma reesei ATCC 56765, Trichoderma reesei ATCC 13631, Trichoderma reesei CBS 526.94, Trichoderma reesei CBS 529.94, Trichoderma longibrachiatum CBS 528.94, Trichoderma longibrachiatum ATCC 2106, Trichoderma longibrachiatum CBS 592.94, Trichoderma viride NRRL 3652, Trichoderma viride CBS 517.94, or Trichoderma viride NIBH FERM/BP 447.

Fungal cells may be transformed by a process involving protoplast formation, transformation of the protoplasts, and regeneration of the cell wall in a manner known per se. Suitable procedures for transformation of Aspergillus host cells are described in EP 238 023 and Yelton et al., 1984, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 81: 1470-1474. Suitable procedures for transformation of Trichoderma reesei host cells are described in Penttila et al., 1987, Gene 61: 155-164, and Gruber et al., 1990, Curr Genet. 18(1):71-6. Suitable methods for transforming Fusarium species are described by Malardier et al., 1989, Gene 78: 147-156 and WO 96/00787. Yeast may be transformed using the procedures described by Becker and Guarente, In Abelson, J. N. and Simon, M. I., editors, Guide to Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology, Methods in Enzymology 194: 182-187, Academic Press, Inc., New York; Ito et al., 1983, Journal of Bacteriology 153: 163; and Hinnen et al., 1978, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 75: 1920.

MATERIALS AND METHODS Strains and Plasmids Strains

E. coli DH12S (available from Gibco BRL) is used for yeast plasmid rescue.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae YNG318: MATa Dpep4[cir+] ura3-52, leu2-D2, his 4-539 is described in J. Biol. Chem. 272 (15): 9720-9727, 1997).

Plasmids

All yeast expression vectors are S. cerevisiae and E. coli shuttle vectors under the control of TPI promoter, constructed from pJC039 described in WO 00/10038.

Genes

Der p 1 from Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus: NCBI accession number: P08176, the amino acid sequence is shown in SEQ ID NO: 3.

The Cystein protease gene from Trifolium repens L (white clover) is the sequence which is deposited as EMBL: AY192363.

The alpha-factor (pheromone required for yeast mating) gene is the sequence in the commercial available pPICZα A vector from Invitrogen.

The trypsin gene from Fusarium oxysporum is the sequence which is deposited as EMBL: S63827 and for which the cDNA sequence is shown in SEQ ID NO: 6.

The phytase gene from Peniophora lycii strain CBS 686.96 is the sequence which is deposited as EMBL: PLY310696 and for which the cDNA sequence is shown in SEQ ID NO: 8.

Primers

For Expression of a Cellulase from Mucor circinellides

For cDNA cloning:

MCE-BC1 F (44 mer): 5′-CAACTGGTGATCACCACCATGAAGTTCACCGTTGCTATTACTTC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 10) MCE-Nru R (39 mer): 5′-TCTCGAGCTCGCGATTACTTTCTTTCGCAACCTGAGCGAG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 11) For yeast vector construction: M61 F (50 mer): 5′-CCAGCTTCCGCAAACAAAGTCGCCAACATGAAGTTCACCGTTGCTATTAC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 12) M61 Cutisig F (50 mer): 5′-CGCCAGCCTTGTTGCTGCTCTCCCCGCCGCTTCTTGCAGCTCTGTCTATG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 13) C-term R61 R (49 mer): 5′-TAATTACATGATGCGGCCCTCTAGATTACTTTCTTTCGCAACCTGAGCG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 14) For Expression of Cystein Protease from Trifolium repens L

alpha-signal-MunI (49 mer): 5′-ATAAACGACGGGACCCGGGGATCCAATTGATGAGATTCCCATCAATTTT-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 15) alpha-signal-CysPro R (42 mer): 5′-GCCCACGATGGAGAAATCGCGAGCTTCAGCTTCTCTTTTCTC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 16) alpha-signal-CysPro F(42 mer): 5′-GAAAAAAGAGAAGCTGAAGCTCGCGATTTCTCCATCGTGGGC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 17) Spe-CysPro R (50 mer): 5′-ACTAATTACATGATGCGGCCCACTAGTTCATTTCTTCTTAGTAGGATAAG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 18) Cuti-Sig-CysPro (50 mer): 5′-GCACCGCCAGCCTTGTTGCTGCTCTCCCCCGCGATTTCTCCATCGTGGGC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 19) CysPro C-term (50 mer): 5′-TAATTACATGATGCGGCCCGCGGCCGCTCATTTCTTCTTAGTAGGATAAG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 20) For Expression of Trypsin from Fusarium

yeast-F (43 mer): (SEQ ID NO: 21) 5′-ACGACGGTACCCGGGGATCAAGCTTATGGTCAAGTTCGCTTCC-3′ yeast-R (43 mer): (SEQ ID NO: 22) 5′-AACTAATTACATGATGCGGCCCTCTAGATTAAGCATAGGTGTC-3′ cuti-pre (45 mer): (SEQ ID NO: 23) 5′-CGTTCCTGAACTTGTTGCCCGGGTTGGTGGCACTTCTGCCAGCGC-3′ TP2-Kex F (32 mer): (SEQ ID NO: 24) 5′-GTTCCTGAACTTGTTCGGCGGGTTGGTGGCAC-3′ TP2-Kex R (32 mer): (SEQ ID NO: 25) 5′-GTGCCACCAACCCGCCGAACAAGTTCAGGAAC-3′ Cuti-pre F (29 mer): (SEQ ID NO: 26) 5′-GTTGCTGCTCTCCCCGTTGGTGGCACTTC-3′ Cuti-pre R (29 mer): (SEQ ID NO: 27) 5′-GAAGTGCCACCAACGGGGAGAGCAGCAAC-3′ CUTIpre-TPpro F (42 mer): (SEQ ID NO: 28) 5′-TCCTCAGGAGATCCCCAACATTGTTGGTGGCACTTCTGCCAG-3′ CUTIpre-TPpro R (40 mer): (SEQ ID NO: 29) 5′-GTTGGGGATCTCCTGAGGAGCGGGGAGAGCAGCAACAAGG-3′ For Expression of a Phytase from Peniophora

PP 1F (50 mer): 5′-AAACGACGGTACCCGGGGATCAAGCTTATGGTTTCTTCGGCATTCGCACC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 30) PP R (50 mer): 5′-ACTAATTACATGATGCGGCCCTCTAGACTATTCCGACGGAACAAAGCCGC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 31) PP 2F (50 mer): 5′-CCGCCAGCCTTGTTGCTGCTCTCCCCCAGCTACCTATCCCCGCACAAAAC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 32)

Medium and Substrates

RS-25: 40 g/L soy bean powder, 40 g/L glucose, 10 g/L KH₂PO₄, 0.25 g/L MgSO₄, 0.01 g/L FeSO₄, 2.5 g/L NH₄NO₃; pH 6

YPD: 20 g/L Glucose, 20 g/L Pepton and 10 g/L Yeast extract

10× Basal solution: 66.8 g/l Yeast nitrogen base w/o amino acids (DIFCO), 100 g/l succinate and 60 g/l NaOH.

SC-glucose (or SC-medium): 100 ml/l 20% glucose (i.e., a final concentration of 2%=2 g/100 ml), 4 ml/l 5% threonine, 10 ml/l 1% tryptophan, 25 ml/l 20% casamino acids and 100 ml/l 10× basal solution. This solution was sterilized using a filter of a pore size of 0.20 micron. Agar and H₂O (approx. 761 ml) is autoclaved together, and the separately sterilized SC-glucose solution is added to the agar solution.

PEG/LiAc solution: 50 ml 40% PEG4000 (sterilized by autoclaving) and 1 ml 5 M lithium acetate (sterilized by autoclaving).

Methods Yeast Transformation

This method was used in examples 2-5.

To transform yeast the in vivo recombinant mechanism was utilized by which it is possible for yeast to recombine a vector sequence and PCR fragments in vivo to create an expression vector, if both the vector sequence and the PCR fragments have the same flanking regions.

A DNA mixture was prepared by mixing 0.5 Microl of vector (EcoRI-NotI digested) and 1 Microl of PCR fragments. S. cerevisiae YNG318 competent cells were thawed on ice. One hundred Microl of the cells were mixed with the DNA mixture and 10 Microl of carrier DNA (Clontech) in 12 ml polypropylene tubes (Falcon 2059). To this 0.6 ml PEG/LiAc solution was added and mixed gently and then incubated for 30 min at 30° C., and 200 rpm. Thereafter it was incubated for 30 min at 42° C. (heat shock) before transferring it to an eppendorf tube and centrifugation for 5 sec. The supernatant was removed and resolved in 3 ml of YPD. The cell suspension was then incubated for 45 min at 200 rpm at 30° C. before it was poured on to SC-glucose plates.

PCR Reaction

Unless otherwise indicated the PCR reactions were carried out under the following conditions:

The PCR reaction contained 38.9 MicroL H₂O, 5 MicroL 10× reaction buffer, 1 MicroL Klen Taq LA (Clontech), 4 MicroL 10 mM dNTPs, 0.3 MicroL×2 100 pmol/MicroL primer and 0.5 MicroL template DNA and was carried out under the following conditions: 30 cycles of 10 sec at 98° C. and 90 sec at 68° C., and a final 10 min at 68° C.

Sandwich ELISA

Immunoplates (Nunc Maxisorb; Nunc-Nalgene) were coated overnight at 4° C. with at suitable dose of polyclonal rabbit anti Der p 1 antibody. The plates were then washed thoroughly with 0.15 M Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS) containing 0.05% Tween 20 (PBST), and remaining binding sites are blocked with PBS with 2% skim milk powder, 1 h at room temperature. Samples, it can be purified, semi-purified recombinant group 1 mite polypeptide variant allergen or crude culture broth containing protein of interest, were added in a suitable dose or dose-range. The plates were then washed thoroughly with 0.15 M PBST before the allergens were detected by incubation with biotinylated monoclonal anti Der p 1 antibody (INDOOR) 1 h at room temperature. The plates were then washed again in 0.15 M PBST before conjugated with complexes of Streptavidin:Horse Radish Peroxidase (Kierkegaard & Perry) for 1 h at room temperature. The washing step was repeated and then the plates were developed by adding 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine hydrogen peroxide (TMB Plus, Kem-En-Tec) before the reaction was stopped by addition of 0.2 M H2SO4. The optical density (OD) at 450 nm reflected allergen binding to the immunoglobin, and it was then possible to detect and also determine the amount of allergen bound by comparing with the data obtained for natural Der p 1 (available from Indoor biotechnologies, NA-DP1) which was included in the ELISA in a known concentration dose range.

Other Methods

E. coli transformation to rescue yeast plasmid was carried out by electroporation (BIO-RAD Gene Pulser).

DNA Plasmids were prepared with the Qiagen® Plasmid Kit. DNA fragments and recovered from agarose gel by the Qiagen gel extraction Kit.

PCR was carried out by the PTC-200 DNA Engine.

The ABI PRISM™ 310 Genetic Analyzer was used for determination of all DNA sequences. Yeast total DNA was extracted by the Robzyk and Kassir's method described in Nucleic Acids Research 20(14): 3790 (1992).

Enzyme Assays Cystein Protease Assay

96 well microtiter plate assay:

The following was added to each well: 10 MicroL 0.5 M Sodium acetate buffer (pH 5), 10 MicroL 2 M NaCl (comprising 700 MicroL mercaptethano/100 ml), 45 MicroL D. W. (distilled water) and 10 MicroL enzyme sample. The plate was then incubated at room temperature for 5-10 min (for maturation of the peptidase) before 25 MicroL 40 MicroM Z-Phe-Arg-MCA (0.1% DMSO) was added. Finally, the emission of MCA (4-methyl-coumaryl-7-amide) at 460 nm was measured in a fluorometer.

Trypsin Assay (PNA Assay for Fusarium trypsin)

Substrate:

Fifty mg of N alpha-Benzoyl-DL-Arginine-p-Nitroanilide (BAPNA, Sigma B-4875) was dissolved in 1 ml DMSO and kept at −20° C. This solution was diluted 100× in the assay buffer just before use.

Assay Buffer:

50 mM Borate-NaOH (pH 10.5)+2 mM CaCl₂

Method:

Microl sample and 200 Microl assay buffer were mixed in a 96-well microtiter tray and Delta OD/min was measured at 405 nm for 5 min.

Phytase Assay

Ten MicroL diluted enzyme samples (diluted in 0.1 M sodium acetate, 0.01% Tween20, pH 5.5) were added into 250 MicroL of 5 mM sodium phytate (Sigma) in 0.1 M sodium acetate, 0.01% Tween20, pH 5.5 (pH adjusted after dissolving the sodium phytate; the substrate was preheated) and incubated for 30 minutes at 37° C. The reaction was stopped by adding 250 MicroL 10% TCA and free phosphate was measured by adding 500 MicroL 7.3 g FeSO₄ in 100 ml molybdate reagent (2.5 g (NH₄)₆Mo70₂₄.4H₂O in 8 ml H₂SO₄ diluted to 250 ml). The absorbance at 750 nm was measured on 200 MicroL samples in 96 well microtiter plates. Substrate and enzyme blanks were included. A phosphate standard curve was also included (0-2 mM phosphate). 1 U equals the amount of enzyme that releases 1 Micromol phosphate/min at the given conditions.

EXAMPLES Example 1 Expression of Der p 1 in S. cerevisiae

The Der p 1 cystein protease from Dermantophagoides pteronyssinus (the amino acid sequence of which is depicted in SEQ ID NO: 3) encoding gene was located in vector pSteD212, which is derived from yeast expression vector pYES 2.0 (Invitrogen, Kofod et al., 1994, J. Biol. Chem. 269: 29182-29189 and Christgau et al., 1994, Biochem. Mol. Biol. Int. 33: 917-925).

This plasmid replicated both in E. coli and in S. cerevisiae. In S. cerevisiae Der p 1 was expressed from this plasmid.

Recombinant Der p 1 was expressed with the Der p 1 propeptide and had the mutation S54N or N52Q which disrupts the only N-glycosylation motif within the mature sequence.

For secretion in yeast two different signal peptides were tested for their expression efficiency by introducing them upstream of the encoding pro-Der p 1 gene. Expression constructs with signal peptides were made by cloning of DNA fragments (Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 2nd Ed., Cold Spring Harbor, 1989). One signal peptide was the natural occurring Dermantophagoides pteronyssinus Der p 1 signal peptide with the amino acid sequence MKIVLAIASLLALSAVYA (SEQ ID NO: 3) and the other signal peptide was derived from a cutinase from Humicula insolens with the amino acid sequence MKFFTTILSTASLVAALP (SEQ ID NO: 1). The yeast strain and the construct with the dust mite Der p 1 signal peptide was named pre-pro-Der p 1 and the yeast strain and construct with the cutinase signal peptide was named cuti-pro-Der p 1.

The constructs were transformed into S. cerevisiae. For screening of yeast transformants expressing Der p 1, the transformation solution was plated on SC-agar plates for colony formation at 30° C. for 3 days. Colonies were inoculated in 50 ml sterile plastic tubes, each tube containing 10 mL SC medium. The tubes were fermented in 500 ml baffled Erlenmeyer flasks containing 100 ml SC medium at 30° C., 250 rpm for 4 days. Culture broth from these fermentations were used for sandwich ELISA experiments to determine the concentration of expressed protein.

The expression level of Der p 1 by the pre-pro Der p1 S54N and the pre-pro Der p1 N52Q transformants were determined by sandwich ELISA as described above in the Method section to be at the same level plus/minus 8%. It was concluded that the expression level of the two strains with the pre-pro-Der p 1 was independent of which of the two mutations S54N and N52Q were used.

In another experiment, 4.5 L culture broth of pre-pro-Der p 1 (N52Q) and cuti-pro-Der p 1 (S54N) were fermented for 4 days and samples were taken each day during fermentation and the amount of Der p 1 was measured by the Sandwich ELISA as described above to follow the expression level. The ratio between expression yields of cuti-pro-Der p 1 and pre-pro-Der p 1 is shown below.

Fermentation day Expression yield (cuti-pro Der p 1/pre-pro-Der p 1) Day 1 8 Day 2 10 Day 3 8 Day 4 6

For each day of fermentation the cuti-pro-Der p 1 expressed between 6-10 times more Der p 1 than pre-pro-Der p 1 which showed that the cutinase signal peptide in front of pro-Der p 1 increased the expression level of pro-Der p 1 protein compared to the use of natural dust mite Der p 1 signal peptide.

Example 2 Expression of a Cellulase from Mucor circinellides in S. cerevisiae

Mucor circinellides IFO4554 was cultivated in shake flask containing RS-25+0.5% lactose medium for one day at 30° C. The mycelium was collected and used for mRNA preparation, which was subsequently reverse transcribed into cDNA. An approximately 1 kb fragment was amplified by PCR from the cDNA by using the MCE-BC1 F and MCE-Nru R primer pair and the following PCR conditions: 2 min at 94° C.; 35 cycles of 1 min at 94° C., 1 min at 45° C. and 2.5 min at 72° C.; and finally 8 min at 72° C. The amplified fragment was cloned into T-vector (Novagene).

The fragment (the Mucor cellulase gene) in T-vector was re-amplified with the primer pairs, M61 F and C-term R61R, and M61Cutisig F and C-term R61R, where the former pair was used for the construct with the original signal sequence (the signal sequence of the Mucor cellulase gene) and the latter pair was used to construct a nucleic acid sequence comprising the signal sequence from the H. insolens cutinase (SEQ ID NO: 2) and the Mucor cellulase gene.

Yeast was transformed by introducing the resulting PCR fragments into S. cerevisiae YNG318 together with the pJC039 vector digested with HindIII and XbaI, and PvuII and XbaI, respectively.

The obtained transformants were cultivated in 24 well plates containing YPD medium at 30° C. and 180 rpm for 3 days. The culture supernatants were applied to holes in an agar plated containing 0.2% CMC (carboxy methyl cellulose), pH 8.5. In below table the size of the halos surrounding holes containing culture supernatant from yeast cells expressing the cellulase from Mucor with either the H. insolens cutinase signal peptide or with the signal peptide from the Mucor cellulase gene. As the cellulase is capable of degrading the CMC thereby creating the halo the size of the halo correlates to the amount of cellulase present in the culture supernatant which was placed in the particular hole. Thus a large halo indicates high amounts of cellulase while a small halo indicates a low amount of cellulase.

Halo size in CMC plate Mucor cellulase with H. insolens cutinase +++++ signal peptide Mucor cellulase with its own signal peptide (+)

The results indicate that the expression level in yeast of Mucor cellulase is much higher when it is expressed with the signal peptide sequence from the H. insolens cutinase gene than when expressed with its own signal peptide sequence (Mucor cellulase gene).

Example 3 Expression of Cystein Protease from Trifolium repens L in S. cerevisiae

To construct an expression vector comprising the signal peptide from alpha-factor and the cystein protease from Trifolium repens L, the DNA fragment encoding the alpha-factor signal peptide was re-amplified with a primer pair, alpha-signal-MunI and alpha-signal-CysProR. The gene encoding pro-mature region of the cystein protease from Trifolium repens L was re-amplified with a primer pair, alpha-signal-CysPro F and Spe-Cys ProR using the EMBL:AY192363 sequence as template. Yeast was transformed by mixing these two PCR fragments together with pJC039 vector digested with Hind III and Xba I and introduced into S. cerevisiae YNG318.

To construct an expression vector comprising the signal peptide from the H. insolens cutinase and the cystein protease from Trifolium repens L, the gene encoding the pro-mature region of the cystein protease from Trifolium repens L was re-amplified with a primer pair, Cuti-Sig-CysPro and CysPro C-term. Yeast was transformed by mixing the obtained PCR fragment with pJC039 vector digested with Hind III and Xba I and introduced into S. cerevisiae YNG318.

The obtained transformants were cultivated in 24 well plate containing 1 ml of YPD at 27° C. for 3 days and then the supernatants were tested for cystein protease activity as described in the Methods section. The measurements of the cystein protease activity are shown in below table.

Cystein protease activity (fluorescence emission/min) Cystein protease with H. insolens cutinase 4.446 × 10⁶ signal peptide Cystein protease with alpha-factor signal 4.073 × 10⁵ peptide

The results indicate that the expression level in yeast of the cystein protease from white clover is 10 times higher when the protease is expressed with the H. insolens cutinase signal peptide than with the alpha-factor signal peptide.

Example 4 Expression of Trypsin from Fusarium in S. cerevisiae

The trypsin gene from Fusarium was re-amplified with the primer pairs, yeast-F and yeast-R, and cuti-pre and yeast-R using the EMBL: S63827 sequence as template, i.e. the cDNA sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 6. The yeast-F/yeast-R primer pair was used to construct a sequence comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding the signal peptide, the pro-region and the mature part of the trypsin gene, while the cuti-pre/yeast-R primer pair was used to construct a nucleic acid sequence comprising the signal peptide and pro-region from the H. insolens cutinase and the mature trypsin gene from Fusarium. Yeast was transformed introducing the resulting PCR fragments into S. cerevisiae YNG318 together with the pJC039 vector digested with HindIII and XbaI, and PvuII and XbaI.

The obtained transformants (pTM-TP1 and pTM-TP2) were cultivated in 24 well plates containing YPD medium at 30° C., 180 rpm for 3 days.

pTM-TP1: Fusarium trypsin signal+Fusarium trypsin Pro+mature trypsin pTM-TP2: H. insolens cutinase signal+H. insolens cutinase Pro+mature trypsin

The trypsin activity was measured as described above in the Method section. No activity was observed in both culture supernatant even with Neutrase™ (as a maturase) addition. However, the pro-form of trypsin (cutinase pro+mature trypsin) was detected by Western blotting with pTM-TP2.

Therefore, the following constructs were made:

pTM-TP2-Kex: H. insolens cutinase signal peptide+H. insolens cutinase pro-region+KexII site+mature Fusarium trypsin pTM-TP2w/o pro: H. insolens cutinase signal peptide+mature Fusarium trypsin pTM-TP2 TPpro: H. insolens cutinase signal peptide+Fusarium trypsin pro-region+Fusarium mature trypsin

Each of the primer pairs, TP2-Kex F and R, Cuti-pre F and R and CUTI-pre-TPpro F and R, were used to prepare pTM-TP2-Kex, pTM-TP2w/o pro and pTM-TP2 TPpro, respectively by mixing them with pTM-TP2 vector digested with EagI and introducing this mixture into S. cerevisiae YNG318.

The obtained transformants were cultivated in 24 well plates containing YPD medium at 30° C., 180 rpm for 3 days.

Activity w/o Activity Western blot Western blot Signal Neutrase with of cell extract of supernatant Construct peptide Pro-region (as a maturase) Neutrase (intracellular) (extracellular) pTM-TP1 Trypsin Trypsin − − Pro-form — pTM- Trypsin Trypsin − − Pro-form — TP1Kex (+kex site) pTM-TP2 Cutinase Cutinase − − — Pro-form pTM- Cutinase Cutinase − − N.T. N.T. TP2Kex (+kex site) pTM-TP2 Cutinase None − − — Larger than w/o pro mature pTM- Cutinase Trypsin − + — Pro-form TP2TPpro wherein “−” means that no activity or no band in the Western blot could be detected, “+” means that trypsin activity was detectable, “pro-form” means that it was the pro-form of the trypsin which was detectable, “N.T.” means “not tested” and for the pTM-TP2 w/o pro means that a protein larger than the mature was detectable, however this construct was designed not to include a pro-region, thus it is not a pro-form.

Trypsin activity was detected with pTM-TP2TPpro vector when Neutrase™ was added to the supernatant (final conc. 0.5 AU/ml). The results indicate that the Fusarium trypsin's own signal peptide does not work efficiently in yeast for expression of trypsin, while the H. insolens cutinase signal peptide does. The pro-region (also called the pro-sequence) from the Fusarium trypsin (7 amino acids) seems to be necessary for proper folding and activation of the trypsin.

Example 5 Expression of a Phytase from Peniophora in S. cerevisiae

The Peniophora phytase gene was amplified with the primer pairs (PP1 F and PP R, PP2 F and PPR using the EMBL: PLY310696 sequence as template, i.e. the cDNA sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 8. The PP1 F/PP R primer pair was used to construct a nucleic acid sequence encoding the signal peptide from the Peniophora phytase gene and the mature protein of Peniophora phytase, while the PP2 F/PPR primer pari was used to construct a nucleic acid sequence encoding the signal peptide from the H. insolens cutinase gene and the mature Peniophora phytase protein. Yeast was transformed by introducing the resulting PCR fragments into S. cerevisiae YNG318 together with the pJC039 vector digested with HindIII and XbaI, and PvuII and XbaI.

The obtained transformants were cultivated in 24 well plates and 500 ml-shake flasks containing YPD medium at 30° C., 180 rpm for 3 days.

The pTMPP1 construct comprised the original signal peptide sequence from the Peniophora phytase, while the pTMPP2 construct comprised the H. insolens cutinase signal peptide sequence. The phytase activity was measured, as described in the Method section, in the culture supernatant of transformants comprising the pTMPP1 or the pTMPP2 construct which were culture either in 24-well plates or in a shake flask. The results are shown below.

24-well Shake flask pTMPP1 (phytase signal) 1.8 U/ml  1 U/ml pTMPP2 (cutinase signal) 6.9 U/ml 13 U/ml

The results show that the transformants comprising the pTMPP2 construct express more phytase activity than those comprising the pTMPP1 construct indicating that the H. insolens signal peptide increases expression of the phytase in yeast compared with the phytase's own signal peptide.

Example 6 Expression of Phytase from Peniophora in Aspergillus oryzae

The constructs comprising the phytase gene with its own signal peptide sequence and the phytase gene with the H. insolens cutinase signal peptide sequence described in Example 5 were used to construct an expression vector for Aspergillus and transformed into Aspergillus as described in Lassen et al., 2001, Applied and Environmental Micorbiology, 67: 4701-4707. For each of the constructs 49 strains were isolated, purified and the production of phytase was measured as described in the Method section above by culturing said transformants in shake flasks. When comparing the strains from the two groups of construct which expressed the highest level of phytase, it was found that the strain comprising the construct with the cutinase signal peptide expressed approximately 1.4 times more phytase than the one comprising the phytase signal peptide. Similarly, when the average amount of expressed phytase in the 5 strains from each group which expressed the highest amount of phytase was compared the strains comprising the construct with the cutinase signal peptide expressed approximately 1.3 times more phytase than those comprising the construct with the phytase signal peptide. 

1. A method for producing a secreted polypeptide, comprising: (a) cultivating a fungal host cell in a medium conducive for the production of a polypeptide, wherein the host cell comprises a nucleic acid construct comprising a first nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide operably linked to a second nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide, wherein the first nucleotide sequence is foreign to the second nucleotide sequence, the 3′ end of the first nucleotide sequence is immediately upstream of the second nucleotide sequence, and the first nucleotide sequence is selected from the group consisting of: (i) a nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide comprising an amino acid sequence which has at least 85% identity with SEQ ID NO:1; (ii) a nucleotide sequence having at least 85% homology with SEQ ID NO: 2; and (iii) a nucleotide sequence which hybridizes under stringency conditions with the nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 2, or its complementary strand, wherein the stringency conditions are defined as prehybridization, hybridization, and washing post-hybridization at 5° C. to 10° C. below the calculated Tm in 0.9 M NaCl, 0.09 M Tris-HCl pH 7.6, 6 mM EDTA, 0.5% NP-40, 1×Denhardt's solution, 1 mM sodium pyrophosphate, 1 mM sodium monobasic phosphate, 0.1 mM ATP, and 0.2 mg of yeast RNA per ml, and washing once in 6×SCC plus 0.1% SDS for 15 minutes and twice each for 15 minutes using 6×SSC at 5° C. to 10° C. below the calculated Tm; and (b) isolating the secreted polypeptide from the cultivation medium.
 2. A method of claim 1, wherein the first nucleotide sequence encodes a signal peptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
 1. 3. A method of claim 1, wherein the first nucleotide sequence encodes a signal peptide consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or a peptide fragment thereof that retains the ability to direct the polypeptide into or across a cell membrane, e.g. into the cell's secretory pathway.
 4. A method of claim 1, wherein the first nucleotide sequence consists of SEQ ID NO: 2, or a subsequence thereof which encodes a signal peptide that retains the ability to direct the polypeptide into or across a cell membrane, e.g. into a cell's secretory pathway.
 5. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the second nucleotide sequence encodes a polypeptide native to the fungal host cell.
 6. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the second nucleotide sequence encodes a polypeptide heterologous to the fungal host cell.
 7. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the fungal host cell contains one or more copies of the second nucleotide sequence.
 8. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the second nucleotide sequence encodes a hormone or hormone variant, enzyme, receptor or portion thereof, antibody or portion thereof, allergen or reporter.
 9. A method of claim 8, wherein the enzyme is an oxidoreductase, transferase, hydrolase, lyase, isomerase, or ligase.
 10. A method of claim 9, wherein the enzyme is an aminopeptidase, amylase, carbohydrase, carboxypeptidase, catalase, cellulase, cellobiohydrolase, chitinase, cutinase, cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase, deoxyribonuclease, endoglucanase, esterase, alpha-galactosidase, beta-galactosidase, glucoamylase, alpha-glucosidase, beta-glucosidase, invertase, laccase, lipase, mannosidase, mutanase, oxidase, pectinolytic enzyme, peroxidase, phospholipase, phytase, polyphenoloxidase, proteolytic enzyme, ribonuclease, transglutaminase, xylanase, or beta-xylosidase.
 11. A method of claim 8, wherein the second nucleotide sequence encodes an allergen, e.g. Der p 1 from Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, in particular amino acid 19-320 of SEQ ID NO: 3 or variants thereof.
 12. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the fungal host cell is a filamentous fungal host cell, such as an Aspergillus cell, e.g. Aspergillus oryzae.
 13. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the fungal host cell is a yeast cell.
 14. A nucleic acid construct comprising a first nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide operably linked to a second nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide, wherein the first nucleotide sequence is foreign to the second nucleotide sequence, and the 3′ end of the first nucleotide sequence is immediately upstream of the second nucleotide sequence, and the first nucleotide sequence is selected from the group consisting of: (a) a nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide comprising an amino acid sequence which has at least 85% identity with SEQ ID NO:1; (b) a nucleotide sequence having at least 85% homology with SEQ ID NO: 2; and (c) a nucleotide sequence which hybridizes under stringency conditions with the nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 2, or its complementary strand, wherein the stringency conditions are defined as prehybridization, hybridization, and washing post-hybridization at 5° C. to 10° C. below the calculated Tm in 0.9 M NaCl, 0.09 M Tris-HCl pH 7.6, 6 mM EDTA, 0.5% NP-40, 1×Denhardt's solution, 1 mM sodium pyrophosphate, 1 mM sodium monobasic phosphate, 0.1 mM ATP, and 0.2 mg of yeast RNA per ml, and washing once in 6×SCC plus 0.1% SDS for 15 minutes and twice each for 15 minutes using 6×SSC at 5° C. to 10° C. below the calculated Tm.
 15. A nucleic acid construct of claim 14, wherein the first nucleotide sequence encodes a signal peptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
 1. 16. A nucleic acid construct of claim 15, wherein the first nucleotide sequence encodes a signal peptide consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or a peptide fragment thereof that retains the ability to direct the polypeptide into or across a cell membrane, e.g. into a cell's secretory pathway.
 17. A nucleic acid construct of claim 14, wherein the first nucleotide sequence consists of SEQ ID NO: 2 or a subsequence thereof, which encodes a signal peptide that retains the ability to direct the polypeptide into or across a cell membrane.
 18. A recombinant expression vector comprising the nucleic acid construct of claim
 14. 19. A recombinant host cell comprising the nucleic acid construct of claim 14 or the expression vector of claim
 14. 20. Use of a signal peptide for producing a polypeptide, wherein the signal peptide is encoded by a first nucleotide sequence and the polypeptide is encoded by a second nucleotide sequence foreign to the first nucleotide sequence, and the 3′ end of the first nucleotide sequence is immediately upstream of the second nucleotide sequence, and wherein the first nucleotide sequence is selected from the group consisting of: (a) a nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide having an amino acid sequence which has at least 85% identity with SEQ ID NO:1; (b) a nucleotide sequence having at least 85% homology with SEQ ID NO: 2; and (c) a nucleotide sequence which hybridizes under stringency conditions with the nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 2, or its complementary strand, wherein the stringency conditions are defined as prehybridization, hybridization, and washing post-hybridization at 5° C. to 10° C. below the calculated Tm in 0.9 M NaCl, 0.09 M Tris-HCl pH 7.6, 6 mM EDTA, 0.5% NP-40, 1×Denhardt's solution, 1 mM sodium pyrophosphate, 1 mM sodium monobasic phosphate, 0.1 mM ATP, and 0.2 mg of yeast RNA per ml, and washing once in 6×SCC plus 0.1% SDS for 15 minutes and twice each for 15 minutes using 6×SSC at 5° C. to 10° C. below the calculated Tm.
 21. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide has an amino acid sequence which has at least 90% identity with SEQ ID NO:1.
 22. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the nucleotide sequence has at least 90% homology with SEQ ID NO:
 2. 23. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the nucleotide sequence encoding a signal peptide has an amino acid sequence which has at least 95% identity with SEQ ID NO:1.
 24. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the nucleotide sequence has at least 95% homology with SEQ ID NO:
 2. 25. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising the step of secreting a polypeptide in the cultivation medium. 